THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
71 
EFFECT OF DRIVING. 
( )iie of tlie questions to which I paid special attention during the past summer was 
that of the eH'ect of driving upon tlie vitality of the seals. It has been variously 
asserted that the repeated driving of the male seals on the Pribylof Islands has 
]•( suited in the weakening of the procreative power of the bulls and the consequent 
degejieration and i)artial decrease in the number of seals on the rookeries. It has 
also l)een hinted that the difference in the methods of driving the seals on the Priby- 
lofs and on the Oommander Islands might account for the apparent lesser diminution 
of the seals on the latter islands. The question is, therefore, one of the utmost 
impoitance, and it was in order to specially make a direct conqiarison between the 
methods employed on the American and the Ilussian side that I asked to be enabled 
to land on St. Paul Island and witness a drive there before proceeding to the Oom- 
mander Islands. It is, therefore, pertinent to submit a description of this drive, which, 
thaidfs to the assistance of the agents of the company and of the United States 
Treasury, I had an opportunity to follow on June 26, 1895. 
It would, of course, be hazardous to base any far-reachiug conclusions upon one 
single drive. As Mr. F. W. True was going to follow up similar studies on St. Paul 
Island during the whole of the following season, lie kindly assented to accompany me 
on the present occasion, so that he might afterwards inform me how the drive we were 
going to take part in might compare for severity with those which were to follow later, 
and which I myself would not be able to inspect. 
At 9p. m. on June 25, in company with Mr. Stanley-Brown, the general agent of 
the comjiany, we started for Polavina Eookery in a buckboard drawn by a pair of strong 
mules. The road was to a great extent still covered with snow and water, compelling 
the driver to pick his way in the dark over hills and marshes. After a trying ride of 
two hours, during which it was a wonder that we were not upset and spilled by the 
roadside or into the water which surrounded us on all sides, we arrived safely at the 
hut, where we found a party of nine Aleuts who had preceded us. After a fitful 
slumber ou the benches in front of the cooking- stove, we turned out with our gang at 2 
o’clock the next morning and proceeded to the hauling-ground, where we could hardly 
discern the various objects in the hazy gray light of the early morning. I quote now 
from my diary, written a few hours later: 
We move stealthily along the margin of the hreeding-ground, which is occupied hy angrily bellow 
iug hulls, a few — a very few — females, and still fewer pups, cutting off a small herd of bachelor seals 
that are skirting the inner edge of the breeding-grounds. At the e)id of the latter we make a sudden 
spurt, Mr. True and I running at full speed with the Aleuts for the water’s edge, thus cutting off 
another crowd of bachelors — I estimate in all al)out 1,000. Then the driving begins hy dividing the 
herd in two (unintentionally) uneven sections, which are driven easily, without special urging, over 
very oven ground. 
The seals are of very unequal sizes, there being quite a number of large half-bulls in the flock. 
Iti driving, the various sizes become somewhat sorted, inasmuch as the younger and more agile seals 
keep well to the front, while the large and fat half-bulls Ijriug up the rear. Occasionally a few of 
these are cut out and left behind — probably in all about 50. No other cutting out or culling is under- 
taken while the driving is going on, and is practically impossible as long as the seals are driven in .as 
large flocks as these. On the other hand, the driving gang is too short-handed to manage a large 
number of small sections, as on the Commander Islands. After a moderate drive overland for about 
three-quarters of an hour, the seals enter a series of shallow lakes, and now the progress is rapid. 
At 5 a. m. the herd is halted .just outside the salt-house at Rocky Point, and the drive is over. 
It is noticeable that the seals are nearly as fresh at the end of the drive as at the beginning. The 
younger seals are quite active; they walk about unconcernedly, and stand well up on their legs, while 
